Saturday, December 15, 2012

Pizza Bomber: The Untold Story of America’s Most Shocking Bank Robbery (Berkley Publishing)

Full
disclosure: I literally had a front row seat for much of the early portion of
this horrific story. I am a recovering radio talk show host; my morning show
was broadcast from a studio situated on State Street in Erie, Pennsylvania,
which was directly across the street from the office building that housed the
Erie office of the FBI. On a regular basis during the early days of the
investigation of what would be dubbed the Pizza Bomber case, I attended press
conferences that were held in the FBI office or a block down in Erie City
Council chambers.

I waded
through much of the same information that Erie Times News reporter and
co-author of this book Ed Palatella did and regularly saw Jerry Clark, the FBI
agent in charge of the investigation and co-author standing to the side of the
podium where the latest information was being discussed. With that front row seat,
I regularly saw law enforcement types including Clark, parade the string of
bizarre characters involved in this story through the side entrance of the
Highmark Building and into the FBI office for questioning.

On one
occasion my co-host had the opportunity to pepper William Rothstein, a large,
bearded, character decked out in his trademark bib overalls, with questions
live on the air, while he stood on the sidewalk outside the studio waiting for
a ride. Rothstein remained tight lipped, not responding to any question posed.

They say
that truth is stranger than fiction and if any fiction writer had ever proposed
a book laced with such a bizarre cast of characters and such a truly far-fetched
story, they would likely have been laughed out of any publisher’s office. It is
that dysfunctional, gang who couldn’t
shoot straight and the tenacity of Clark and his fellow investigators that
make this story so interesting.

It was a
beautiful, sunny day on Thursday, August 28, 2003. The events that would unfold
on the busy retail hub that the locals in Erie call “upper Peach Street” were
incredible to the point of almost defying description. Brian Wells, a pizza
delivery man walked into a branch of PNC Bank wearing and oversized T-shirt
covering a large, metal contraption that was fitted around his neck, carrying a
large, black device that was fashioned to resemble a cane, that would later be
determined to be a cane gun, and demanded money from a teller.

Shortly
after the bank robbery was completed, Wells was stopped by police and placed on
the ground in front of his vehicle. It was at this point Wells began a rambling
dissertation about the device that was locked around his neck. Police quickly
determined that the collar could indeed be an explosive device as Wells
claimed. The first responders backed away and called for the Erie Police Bomb
Squad to respond to the scene. As time dragged while the bomb squad attempted
to work their way through the usually hectic Peach Street traffic, Wells became
increasingly agitated, pleading with those on scene to help him and remove the
locked collar.

At 3:18 PM,
three minutes before the bomb squad would arrive on scene, the device
detonated, killing Wells and sending this story into the national spotlight. It
would also start the clock on the investigation that would consume hundreds of
man hours, cost participants in the investigation their marriages and take
countless twists and circuitous turns before concluding with indictments of the
conspirators who were involved in the twisted plot to rob a bank.

Central
among that group was Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, a near-infamous women who was
serving time for the murder of her boyfriend, James Roden. Investigators
believe Roden had made the fatal mistake of claiming he would expose the bank
robbery plot to law enforcement which led to his untimely demise. Further
twisting the tale was that fact that Roden’s body ended up in the freezer at
Rothstein’s house. Armstrong had first come to attention of law enforcement
when she was acquitted of the murder of another of her beaus in the late 1980s.

As I worked
my way through the book I was amazed to remember how many of those that played
a role in the extended tale had succumbed to illness or had died under
mysterious circumstances. The story has told by Clark and Palatella has a
disjointed feel to it, but when you reflect on just how twisted this tale
became and the manic mental state of those involved in the plot, that
disjointedness seems almost fitting.

Despite that
front row seat, the book does reveal some amazing detail of how investigators
honed in on this group, picking up threads of the story that would lead to not
only the indictments, but also the convictions of those central to the story.
Palatella details his nearly daily conversations with Diehl-Armstrong, as she
called collect from whatever correctional facility she was currently housed in
to berate, rant, rave and regularly, loudly, proclaim her innocence. It made me
feel sorry for him and glad she didn’t have my number.

While some,
including Wells family may disagree with the outcome of the case, Pizza Bomber is a fascinating look into
the day-to-day inner workings of the investigation into what certainly is and
will remain one of the strangest crimes in U.S. history.